Using the Wiimote in sword games

I wonder how well the Wiimote could be used for controlling a sword. Will certain hand movements trigger pre-set swing moves of the sword, like if there were 10 different moves and you direct the Wiimote in a certain way, one of them would be done on screen. Or will the sword move on the screen in any way you move the Wiimote with your arm, just as if you had a sword in real life and could pin-point any spot with the tip of the sword.

I certainly hope it is the latter because that could utilize peoples natural hand eye coordination rather than just button pressing ability. I guess this is the basis of Nintendo's ideas on changing the way video games are played.

Yea that's wut i was thinking to, plus if u actually had to swing the remote u might start to get tired...and u would actually have to take that 10min. brake after an hr. (I don't believe in video game brakes)

My name is Marie-Sol Beaudry, producer of Red Steel here in the Ubisoft Paris studio. We’re excited to share bits of information here on the ongoing development of this Wii exclusive launch title. Along with me, you’ll get to hear from our creative director, lead designer, art director and others on their areas of expertise.

We were really excited by everyone’s response to the Nintendo Wii at E3 and were thrilled to showcase Red Steel at the Nintendo press conference. After working so long on this project in complete secrecy, it was great to not just show the game but to also let people play it for the first time.

For this initial Blog entry, we want to talk about the Wii controller and how we’re using it to it is fullest.

The challenge for working on a new system, especially one that has such a focus on the interface with the Wii controller is that everything we’re doing in the game is directly effected by the controller. This includes everything from level design, overall game design, movement and storyline. When we first received the controller our imaginations were limitless but then we spoke to our programmers and determined that there were guidelines and rules of which we’d need to adhere to in regard to both functionality as well as game play.

In other words, while the shooting was fairly straight forward, point-and-shoot, it was the sword play that proved to be a true challenge. We quickly learned that wielding a sword and manipulating the controller was a lot of fun, but we didn’t want to force people to become actual professional swordsmen – just have fun. Also, we have to consider the animations of the sword and matching it up with what you see on screen. We didn’t want any delay whatsoever in response to what was happening with the controller and what you saw on the screen.

We’re continuing to tweak the controls to optimize the game and ensure it’s a great experience on all levels, for example keeping the precision and accuracy of the aiming but working on the sensitivity and the stability. Also the sword fighting is going to offer more diversity in movements and couple of special moves I will not talk about this time...

Ubisoft has recently told the French press that there will be significant changes to the gameplay of their Wii launch title before the game hits store shelves later this year. Although specific examples of the improvements have not been announced, Ubisoft briefly commented on the difficulty of refining the sword-fighting of Red Steel. Rather than implement the style shown at E3, where players' unique movements with the Wii-Mote only translated into a few preset sword strikes in-game, Ubisoft is thought to be opting for a free-motion control scheme that takes into account every nuance of the player's/Wii-mote's movements, and translate them directly into the game's sword combat.